Week.. I think it's 13... I'm not sure.

This week was alright. I just don't know what to do about my 10 ways.  We need 10 ways. Please, respond to this email - all of you - and give me as many ideas as you can give me!!!  we need more ideas, because neither of us are creative!!!

Anyways, besides that, this week was alright.  Nothing really special. I didn't even take any pictures so I will take one right now and send it.  I seriously can't remeber what happened this week. that's why I brought my journal.

Lunes: In a lesson with new investigators, I was explaining the Book of Mormon, and the guy pulls out his phone, and starts filming.  ¿¿¿¿QUE???? yeah, I don't even know, but he disappeared after that lesson. Missed his next cita, and didn't assistir a la iglesia.  Just wierd.

Martes: 2 highlights. First, one of our investigators decided to postpone her baptism until the 11 of Abril. We asked her to pray about it, and we warned her of the danger of it, but she still decided to postpone. She will be baptized on the 11 with her neighbor and friend, Fany. Second, we had a lesson with a guy named Fernando. He just wouldn't understand anything. he is one of those people that likes to try to prove wrong churches.  By the end of the lesson, he had some sort of change, because he was quiet, and actually let us talk, then he commited to go to church, and the spirit filled the lesson super strong. He ended up not going to church, but the point is that it was a really great lesson. :)

Miercoles:  There is a new Zone.  We had District meeting. There is a new Elder. He is a Peruvian, but at least I am not the new guy anymore. haha.  That was about it.

Jueves:  So we had a goal to get 10 baptisms in Abril. This week was the last week to get the news and fechas. We just needed people to go to church, so that we could set fechas in Abril. So we did a lot of contacting, and we just invited EVERYONE to church. we met people who seemed like good investigators, and it was an okay day.

Viernes:  Had a good workout in the morning. :)  Sad thing though, is that we didn't have any water for drinking. :P So yeah.  And we got a little disheartened when NO CONTACTING WAS DOING ANYTHING ALL WEEK LONG!!!! Gosh, and then one of the members said that fast Sunday here was the week before conference. So yeah. But still wasn't like the worst day in the world, so yeah.

Sábado:  I tried making my pen die in my journal. We started fasting today. well, I did. and Elder Guevara forgot. As we were going about, Elder Guevara bought an ice Cream, to annoy me. To his surprise, the ice cream melted all over his hand, and it like all went to waste.  Haha. Karma. We also got water that day.  And still no success contacting.

Domingo: I found out that it really wasn't fast Sunday. Wow. The member lied to me! Oh well. I finished my fast, and then we had church at 2. And my pen died finally. we found a big family, and now we have 10 news this week, even though like 5 of them really aren't going to progress.  So, and we only had to people in church, so say goodbye to 10 baptisms in abril. we are still trying to get them in the transfer, this week. 

Anyways, I hope next week is better. Pray for me. sé que mi misión va a ser una bendición, pero es muy difícil. Por favor, oren por mi. Yo necesito mucho. Yo estoy muy agradecido por esta experiencia. Gracias por todo! Hasta la próxima semana! Les amo!

Transfers tomorrow...:(

Elder Guevara, my trainer for the first 6 weeks, who can speak english and Spanish, and has been a great help to me these past 6 weeks, and is from El Salvador, is... sadly.... sorry to say that he.....

...is staying. HA GOTCHA!!!

Just kidding, you probably weren't fooled. :) Alright, let's go through the days again. I like doing that.

Lunes: Had intercambios. Turns out that it was actually with Elder Huish, my district leader4, and not his companion. Elder Huish is also from Mesa, AZ. He has been in the mission for about 8 months now.  He is pretty kool. 

Martes: In the morning, we found a guy who didn't have hands, or a left ear. He literally had hooks for hands! It was crazy, but we didn't show any concern or amazement. We kept our kool, and Elder Huish got a future investigator who seemed very interested in the church. Switched back to my own companion, and we went straight to a lesson. At the end of this lesson, I was prompted to share something about temptation, and commandments. So, I pulled out my scriptures, and shared it. But, it was really crazy, because I was saying things that I didn't even know I could, and I talked for a considerably long time. I can testify that the Holy Ghost was talking through me. It was soo kool. After that, I had another couple lessons, and did a good amount of talking in them too. It was great.

Miercoles: I shared an insight on the spot in Spanish at the district meeting, and did pretty good. my Spanish is getting a lot better really fast.  Then, that night, we found a family with FHE, and a bunch of neighbor kids came. We got 3 new investigators, and a bunch of future, because we talked to the other kids' parents afterwards. The best part, They are ALL married. That is a miracle! Nobody is married here. So, that was really kool. Also had some fun listening to a member making a fool of himself. Yeah, it was a good day.

Jueves: By this point in the week, I was determined to have a good week. We set a goal of 10 baptisms in April, and we are wrking hard to get them. I had my first interview with President finally, and it took most of the day long.  It was good, and we did a lot of contacting afterwards, and got some future investigators.  President shared the story that dad shared a lot about the guy who wnted some advice to fix his life or something, and the mentor guy grabbed him, and shoved his head under the water, until the guy almost drowned, then he pulled him back up and said that if he wants it as bad as he wanted to breath, he can do it.  So, I got pretty inspired. haha, so yeah. I want to be the best.

Viernes: This week, I had a really, really bad kink in my neck... It really hurt. But I am determined to be optomistic. Then, that night, We got 4 refferals from a recent convert, and we got a bunch of new investigators.  We have been having a lot of success in finding this week. almost so much, that I don't feel like I deserve it. this wek, and from now on, I will earn the success I get.

Sábado: Not a lot to report. Found another married family. We just had to wait to ee who will go to church.

Domingo: We only had 1 investigator go to church. But, we didn't expect a lot to go this week. It seemed that everything was going wrong for everybody. We need to somehow get people to church. If you have any advice on how to make that happen, please tell me. Also, if you have any ideas for finding, let me hear them. We need better ideas. 

Lunes: personal P-Day. Finally bought our groceries.  I get milk again! And I got more of that really good vanilla cereal.  Elder Guevara is staying.

This week has been great. I am determined to work harder. I want to want success as bad as I want to breath. I am working towards that desire. I am working towards becoming a better missionary.  Oh, and Mom, if you could send me some more stuff, that would be great. ;)  I need another 5x7 pane of glass, because the one that you sent broke, I need some more pens, because people keep stealing them, so I only have like 2 and a half left, and I use them a lot. Also, an English Hymnbook, so I can read the hymns, and more lined paper, because that doesn't exist here... :P

He estado teniendo una muy grande experiencia. Gracias por sus oraciones por mi, y suplico que puedan seguir orando. La misión es maravillosa, pero es difícil. Por favor, oren por mi. Voy a orar más y más por ustedes. Quiero que ustedes están felices también. Si pueden, ayúdenme con ideas para encontrar. Necesitamos más maneras, porque nuestra meta es 10 bautismos en Abril. Gracias! Ahora, mi testimonio es este: 

Sé que el Señor vive, y que me ayuda. Sé que me ha dado todo que tengo. Él es mi Salvador y Redentor. su sacrificio por nosotros es más grande que podamos comprender. Sé que Dios realmente contesta cuando oramos, y que Él quiere que estamos feliz. Ellos van a ayudarnos, guiarnos, y protegernos, si pedimos.  estoy muy muy muy agradecido por ellos, y cada oportunidad que me han dados.  Gracias por todos. les amo mucho, y espero que puedan sentir mi, y Su amor cada día. Tengan una maravillosa semana! (Or else... >:)  )

De nuevo, LES AMO!!

Élder Olsen (Riley)

"Facing adversity head on and overcoming it." -Dad

This week was great. Not the best week that I have ever had, obviously, but I went into it optomistically, so it came out alright. I am grateful for all of your support and motivation! Like mom, I don't really think that I have a lot to talk about. Let's go by day, see if I can remeber anything super special.

Lunes: We started "Mini-Sión" in a different place called "Las Viñas".  We didn't like the place, but decided that we would give it a shot. the first day was okay, but it wasn't very good. Then, we had lessons and stuff. That was it.

Martes: We have been trying to do 10 ways to find this week, and we did a lot of it. I will explain more later.  Mini-Sión was a lot better feeling the second day.

Miercoles: District meeting. Elder Hiuish brought some guacamole that he made. It was really good. Then, someone said to me "You've got something in the mail." Kool! That's a first.  So it was this shoebox. It was from mom, but was Brady's idea. :) I loved it. Twix (I bragged to everyone about it today.) Some cookies, milk duds, junior mints.  a couple weeks ago, I told my mom, jokingly, that I wanted some banana bread... and she actually sent it!!!!!!!! That was sooo funny to me.  It was good, but not as good as it is when it is fresh, and toasted. It was all wet with a wierd juice stuff that came out of it, it was super dense, and it was cold, because I kept it in the fridge.  Oh well, I ate it, so it's ok. The cookies were great though! Molases crinkles. :) And then, to top it off, there were Pictures of the Temple, and My family.  The frame with my family in it was broken, but the temple one was intact. as I looked through the piuctures, I got SO happy. But, I got to the last one in the stack, and I cried. I am so embarassed. Elder Guevara doesn't like babies. :P Jk, but the last picture was the picture of me and my brothers. The first thing that came to my mind was "Every Brother is a Superhero."  Wow.  Freaking. Awsome. I love you guys so much. Thank you so much.

Jueves: Saw a pretty serious fight happen. It was interesting. The cops came, and arrested the attacker. Fun stuff.

Viernes: Las Viñas turned out to be perfect. Lots of people who could be ready. We have done a lot of contacting. 

Sábado: Nothing super special. In the night, I had a little pep talk with myself. I got super ready and happy. I am getting the language, sometimes, and I just felt awesome. I made a goal to talk only in Spanish on Sunday, and to make a joke. Great night.

Domingo: I did it! Only Spanish today! I didn't make a joke, and I didn't talk a lot, But, I did it, and I found out that I am doing exchanges again. with the same guy. So, no English. kool. Bring it on!

Today was zone P-Day. We had a little party, sort of. It is our Zone Leader's las P-Day. he goes home next week, to Nevada. He is kool. I will miss him a little, but I didn't get to know him too well. But, good for him! His name is Elder Hackleman.  I was trying to learn some children's hymns, and wasn't doing to bad!" I learned 2, almost memorized. We'll Bring the World His Truth, and My Heavenly Father Loves me. I love that song. It reminds me of Mom. Anyways, that was my day.

And my week. The names of the family that I baptized last week are: Miguel Morales Mendoza(42); Lidia Rodas Hernandez de Morales(34), Leidi Julissa Morales Rodas(15), Miguel Angel Morales Rodas(13), and Sergio Joel Morales Rodas (9).  Names are different here. Everyone has 2 last names. For instance, my name if I was born here would have been Riley Jacob Olsen Arave. It is strange. And then, If youare a girl, and are married, your name doesn't change. You just get one added on.  For instance, the wife of this family, her name is Lidia Rodas Hernandez, but she is married to a Morales, so she gets a "de Morales" added on. Interesting. I forgot my camera, so you will have to wait until next week for the pictures. 

"Las 10 Maneras de Encontrar" are just 10 different ways to contact or find people. We are supposed to have 10 every week, and it is harder than it seems.  These, for us, are as follows: FHE (a game to play with families), BoM challenge (give someone a book of mormon with the challenge to read it and pray, and we will stop by in 3 days to see.), Mini-Sión, Contact Neighbors of members, contact in a Plaza (which was a complete failure, but we tried it), ward BoM (give a member a book of mormon, and have them give it to someone, and bring them to church), Old investigators, contact with a video (Together Forever), Church Tour (Thursdays, where I saw the fight), and teach a lesson to a member and ask referals.  They worked somewhat. it was the first week that we used it, and we trippled our number of new investigators from last week. (That isn't saying much, last week was terrible, with only 3 investigators. This week we had 8, which isn't completely trippled, but close enough.) We will continue to use the 10 ways, and hopefully, we won't be transferred next week. TRANSFERS ARE NEXT WEEK! Wow! 6 weeks. Faster than the CCM, that's for sure. I really hope that Elder Guevara is not transferred, and I REALLY hope that I have to show around a new companion that doesn't speak English. Anyways, we will see what happens next week. This week is what I will focus on.

Testimonio: Sé que esta iglesia es la únicamente verdadera iglesia en todo del mundo. Solo en esta iglesia tenemos la plenitud del evangelio, y la autoridad para hacer ordenanzas como bautismo y la santa cena. Yo estoy muy agradecido por esta oportunidad de servir aquí en Misión Perú Lima Oeste.  La misión realmente es maravillosa. Sí, la misión es un deber, pero para mi, es mucho más que eso. Es una bendición. Gracias por toda su ayuda. estoy feliz por eso. Hasta el 23 de Marzo! Les amo!

This was truly a great week. A lot happened. I like how I did it last week, day by day, so I will do it again.

Lunes: On Monday, it was p-day, and was awesome, as always. At least, until 6...  I had exchanges.  I went with an Elder Perez, from Comumbia, who doesn't speak English, for 24 hours.  He was really kool, and knew how I was with the language, so he spoke very slow, and gave me LOTS of oppurtunities to speak. I Was completely lost for most of the evening, just knda following him as he went placing, trying to answer his questions as good as I can, but I was feeling better by the end of the day. Listened to some music, said a prayer, and went to sleep.

Martes: Woke up and had some new kind of cereal, with a vanilla creme filling, and it was GOOD. Had personal study, memorized the last point of the 10 "Cómo Comenzar a Enseñar" points, and rread a bunch of El Libro de Mormón. Then, for companion study, we practiced using the points, and teaching prayer, as a first lesson.  Then, he went to go get a small trim cut at like 10:30, and he shared the first lesson with the guy cutting his hair. We went back, and prepared for the day, went to lunch, and one member got almsost seemingly mad at me, because I wouldn't talk much. I talked a bit, and we had a couple lessons. At 6, we went back to our own companions, and I taught a couple lessons to our investigators with baptismal dates.

Miercoles: Had district meeting, waited during interviews of our investigators, all of them passed, but 3 needed another interview, and had them that night, and passed those too. :) 6 baptisms.

Jueves: Our running water wasn't running today. :P so, we couldnt shower, or use the toilet.  We got a new investigator named Fany, but pretty uneventful. 

Viernes: Still no running running water. Zone meeting. In the afternoon, we discovered that, due to certain circumstances, one of our investigators could no longer get baptized on saturday, but will work towards a later week. Then Elder Guevara told me that I had to baptize all of the family. Then I went home, listened to some music, and went to sleep.

Sábado: So yeah. I baptized 5 people, discovered of a talk that I was supposed to give for Sunday at church. And also, we had to change our schedule to go to the District Leader's baptisms at 6. Yeah, then wrote a bit of my talk, and went to bed.

Domingo: Finished my talk, practiced a musical number for church, had lunch, and went to church at 2.  Our family was confirmed, and due to time restrictions, I didn't end up having to give a talk!! :D So, yeah it was great. We had a lesson with last week's convert, Johan, and we taught lesson 3, and I was saying things in Spanish that I didn't know that I could! It wasn't perfect, and Elder guevara still did most of the talking, but it was one of the best lessons that I have ever had. Afterward, Johan wanted to learn English a bit, so we taught him some English. How to pray. Yeah. It was a good day.

And now there is today. We studied, shopped, prepared for the week, had lomo saltado for lunch with some Inca Kola, and now we are here. It has been a really great week.

Oh, and I am going to answer what I think a lot of you are thinking.  I BAPTIZED MY FIRST TIME!!!! FIVE PEOPLE!!!! IN SPANISH!!!!  I was soo nervous and anxious, but as soon as I got in the water, I was super calm, and I felt the Spirit. I had to do every single person twice, because they kept sticking their feet up, but it was successful, and I am freking soo happy. I felt good, and it was the spiritual highlight of my week. Sé que esta iglesia tiene la verdad. Jesucristo verdaderamente es nuestro salvador y solo mediente Él podemos tener la vida eterna. I miss you all, and am glad to see that you have all had great weeks. :) Have another one. ;)

Love you guys!

Elder Olsen

 

They have something here, that made my day. TRIX cereal, NOT IN PUFFS. I know it's stupid, bu I just HAD to get it. Haha.

I was bored.

And this one is the really good cereal I was talking about.

 

March 2, 2015 Baptism of Johan and clean shoes for a moment

Alrighty. So this week was ok. Not alot really happens.  There is never anything super different. I will go by days...

Monday: Elder Guevara got a haircut, and we taught a couple of lessons. Bore testimony.

Tuesday: We had a big day planned, but every single lesson fell through. We tried contacting but nobody would listen to us, and at the end of the day, we finally had one lesson happen, and he was a Dominican or something who slurred his Spanish so bad, not even Elder Guevara could understand him... To make things worse, he said something anout a gringa that he married in Texas, and died or something, so he was trying to talk to ME because I am a gringo.  Wow... I had no idea what he was talking about, and he wouldn't accept us to come back...  But he kept the LdM. :P

Wednesday: Johan Javier Hurtado Principe had his second baptismal interview, and passed! Other than that... it was an average, one third understood day.

Thursday: Read to 2 Nefi in el Libro de Mormón aloud in personal study, and was another very average day of not much.

Friday: Was funny, because it was my turn to contact, and I saw this guy and went up to him, shook his hand, and he said claro claro... then pushed pass me and went inside... He REALLY didn't care... and we tried knocking on the door, but he wouldn't answer... until his daughter came, and said that he wasn't home. :P

Saturday: We didn't do a lot, because of the baptism at 6. We were told to be there at 5, and Elder Guevara spent a while getting ready. we got a couple of lessons in, and the others fell through.  Johan was baptized, and there was a great turnout, and all of the Zone came (because that is what they are supposed to do) so yeah. He bore his testimony, and Elder Guevara said it was very powerful. I didn't understand a whole lot of what he said, but I could feel the Spirit. We have correlation on Saturday nights, so we had it right after, at 8, and it lasted until 9.

The baptism with Johan. His wife and mother in law were already members.

Elder Guevara, Johan Javier Hurtado Principe, and Me

My first baptism in my mission journal

Sunday: Was pretty a'ight.  I was so thirsty, that I drank like half ofe the water in our room. :P Then we had a lesson with new investigators (a family of 3) and taught our gfamily of 5 investigators who are getting baptized on Saturday with their friend. so we have 6 baptisms this week. I am nervous, because Elder Guevara tells me that I am going to be doing half of the 6.... and I don't really know spanish... or how to baptise. :P So that will be fun.  

Anyways, then today, I bought some white bread and butter, and had a slice with butter on it, and it was exactly the same as it is supposed to be. It was AWESOME. Best food I've had since I've been in Perú. Haha, jk, but it made me feel at home, and it was good. :)

So, that was my week.  I am very proud of Spencer for being the good brother that I knew he could be. Dad told me that he has been doing a really good job at that. I wanted to thank him in front of everybody who will read this letter, because he is the example at home now, and I am very proud of him for being so good.  I am happy for all of my brtohers and family, and am proud of them too. Zachary, for being so fun and optimistic (at least in his letters) and getting his Life Scout like a boss. Brady, for getting the Priesthood and his awesome castle that Dad just sent me a picture of, and getting his 1st Class. Paxton, for getting his Bobcat and being such a good brother to everyone, not just his actual brothers. And R2 because he is still being cute. Dad, for being so uplifting and encouraging to me. And Mom, for being brave enough to hike. Thanks everyone for behaving while I am gone.

Now for my testimony... en español.

Sé que el Evangelio ha sido restaurado a la tierra por medio de José Smith, el cual fue llamado de Dios y Jesucristo. Ayer, leímos en una lección con un converso reciente la historia de José Smith.  Puedo siempre sentir el espíritu cuando leo ese.  Sé que Él realmente vio Dios y Jesucristo.  Sé que el Libro de Mormón es verdadero.  Sé que el profeta Thomas S. Monson es un profeta verdadero, y que he sido llamado por él, o sea, por Dios, para venir aquí y compartir lo que sé a ellos que no saben. Esta es una oportunidad grande.  Serviré con toda mi corazón, mente, y fuerza.  Yo amo a esta iglesia, porque es la verdad, completamente. estoy muy muy muy agradecido para estar aquí.  Gracias a todas personas que me ayudaron. Mamá, papá, Sarah, Xander, y todos mis hermanos. Les amo!!

The view of the ocean from my area!

 

And my clean shoes:)

A nice coke:)

Feb 23, 2015 Dusty Shoes

Elder Guevara

The shoes are from just like 2 hours of walking in my area. They were black and polished and pretty, but now I have to clean them again. :P

Ok.  Here we go. I havent had a very good week. Spanish is still impossible as of yet, but looking back on the week, I feel like is better than what it was. I have felt terrible and discouraged every single day this week, but I cant remeber. it just blurred by.  We started a contacting techique that our President gave us. Its called "Mini-Zion" (Mini-Sión). Basically, or an hour every dy we just walk around the block and say hi to people. eventually, they will feel something good when we comeby, and at the end of the week, knock on every door in the block. People will open the doors and let you in. Thats the idea, at least. So we did that, and we are going to knock tomorrow. I am exited to see. Anyways, I didnt miss home as much this week, either.  I was only discouraged a lot. Spanish is hard, and different.  I have found that the District videos can help a little with the teaching, or the idea of teaching. I wish that there were videos about learning spanish. :P Oh well. On Saturday, something incredible happened. I told Elder Guevara that I wanted to go a certain way on the street. I dont know why. But we ran into somebody (I contacted him, meaning: "¡Hola! Somos misioneros de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. Mi nombre es Elder Olsen, y este es mi compañero, Elder Guevara. Tenemos un mensaje para usted sobre la familia." Then, I gesture to him, and he takes over.) He was interested, and taught him a lesson right after at his house!  Later that day, we were about to end Mini-Sión, and I wanted to stop by a family who we had taught once, but werent home when we went back for the second lesson that we had scheduled, or any other time (3 or 4 times during the week) that we knocked. So we stopped by, and they were home! They let us in, and we taught the restoration to them, which ended up being the best lesson that I have taught, because I understood everything, and even was able to "Ping-Pong" our teaching of the lesson. I taught like half of it, and bore testimony. At the end, I even asked the commitments, including reading and praying about the book of mormon, invitingthem to church, and most importantly, inviting them to baptism, with a date. The accepted all of them, but didnt go to church.   :(  Anyhow, it was a great lesson, and I was confident for the next 2 hours of the day, until bed. That feeling didnt carry into Sunday, and my Spanish was terrible again that day, but whatever. It is improving. Just a little, but there is some improvement.  Now to answer questions. Mom, Yes, it is the only room, and there is a bathroom down the hall. The walls and floor are stone or concrete or something. The bathroom is s,mall, has a curtainless shower that is just a little corner of the room (actuall like a fourth of the space) a toilet, and a sink. Air conditioning doesnt exist in my whole mission, save one stake center about an hour from my area, that all mission meetings are held at, besides transfers. We eat at a "pensionista"s house every day for lunch. She is paid by the church, and doesnt ever talk to us. We eat alone. We are not alñowed to eat at members houses because of safety reasons, and I have taken dads advice to drink the juice literally, and drink the juice that is offered by just about anybody. I didnt do it at first, but when I did, dad was right, and I could see that they were more happy. I shop at corner stores when I am thirsty, and want a drink, but on P-Days, there is a supermarket called Metro, which is like a run down Wal-Mart. Our church building is A chapel and really small cultural center, a hallway connecting them to a building with like 6 rooms and a bathroom, and a big scary fence around the builing.  All churches here have them, not sure why, but whatever. It is a smaller ward, but it still has the 3 hour block with all of the different age groups and stuff. Our ward covers 2 areas, so us and the district leader share a ward and see eachother alot. His name is Elder Huish (pronounced like Jewish, but with a H sound at the beginning instead of a j) He is gringo, but never talks in english for some reason. Haha. Right now, my schedule is Study, study, study, lunch, more study, then from like 2:30 or 3 until 9, out teaching.  Uh, I dont see any more question right now in my inbox... So... yeah. All food is rice and meat, we are not allowed to eat ceviche, or anything raw or uncooked, there is a lot of candies that are close to US candies, but not as good (Exept for one called Tentación - Temptation in English - that is super cheap and super good. A sugary cracker with orange, chocolate, and vanilla flavors, but I obviously get orange.) All soda is the same, exept they have a little bit more of a variety with Inca Kola, its ripoffs, and Guarana soda.) The food is always the same. At least it is good:)  I love you guys, and miss you a lot, but se que debo estar aquí. Se que la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días es la iglesia verdadera. Se que José Smith fue verdaderamente un profeta de Dios, y que el evangelio de Jesucristo ha sido restaurado a la tierra mediante él. Estoy muy muy agradecido por esta oportunidad para servir una misión, y quiero decir que aunque es difícil, es una grande experiencia. Tengan una buena semana! Les amo!! (Y Brady, felicidades en recibiendo el sacerdocio Aarónico! Estoy feliz para usted! También, FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!!!!! -- Translation- And Brady, congratulations on recieving the Aaronic priesthood!  I am happy for you! Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!)  Oren para mi, por favor. Necesito este mucho.  Otra vez, Les AMO!  :) 

 

 

My area map, and my planner on friday. Still getting used to using it, but I am getting better at it. I also tried taking a picture of one of the freaking 5 daddy long legs that are hanging out in my room.  Yeah, lucky me! But they just sit there, so I am not afraid of them. :) HAHA

 

 

 

February 16, 2015 1st week in the field

That is soo kool! Rhett will be a great missionary in 15 years. Haha. Better than me anyways... I have been really stressed... I will tell you more in my weekly mail.
       ~This was in response to this cute story:
 (Today Rhett hasn't been feeling good.  This morning I asked him if he wanted to go to church.  He said "no, I want to go on a mission!"  Then I told him that missionaries go to church every week.  Then he said, "I'm going to go to church in my mission rocket ship."  (I think he may think that the plane you went on was your mission rocket ship) :)  

Hey guys! So, last week at the CCM was really fast and very informative, meaning prettymuch no PA and no p-day. I had to say goodbye to all of my friends that I had made. My CCM District had become a family to me, and it was really sad to leave. Elders Utai, Cluff, Mortensen, Watkins, Whitaker, and Cunningham were the coolest people. I wish you guys could have known them. Anyways, I was the leader of the mission group, which meant that I had to keep track of everyone going to West mission.  It was pretty easy. I just had to wake up at 4:30 to wake up everyone. And I did. (TAKE THAT DAD!!!)

We went to the beach, and President Archibald wasthere, and told us a story of Spanish Conquistadores who took over the 4000 Incas with 200 men. They burnt their boats, so that they couldnt turn back. Then he

 

Oops... didnt mean to send that.

Anyways... he gave us all paper boats, and told us to burn them.We burnt them, and he told us that there was now no turning back, and we need to work and fight to survive. It was great.  

We got to the Mission office, and it was hot. there is only like one building in our mission that has it. :P  We went over the stuff that we were given, then we had french toast.  I love american food. After that, it was time for transfers. I was sooo nervous. I couldnt hardly sit still.I was one of the last people to be announced.  My Area is called Ventanilla 2 in the Ventanilla zone. My trainer is...

 

That one was intentional. haha. My entranador is Elder Guevara. He is a Latino from El Salvador qand the best part is... HE SPEAKS ENGLISH!!!!!  He is fluent.  OH I am sooo glad about that.  He is a really cool guy. He loves listening to Music (thak goodness for that, I wasnt allowed to listen to anything in the CCM) and we listen to all of my music.  My room is really small and cramped, but I have come to call it home, for now. The first day, or, the evening that we got to the area, he had me contact like 4 people, and we taught a couple lessons. The people dress normally, like they do at home. Their clothes are all clean, but the all live in shacks in the dirt with thin wooden walls. Nobody is married, but they all have children and live together. It is apparently really hard and expensive to get married here, so that is a big obstacle for all of our investigators. The are all so humble. I look up to the people that live here. It is just amazing and humbling. if your thought you were tight on money, you have no idea.  I love it. The people here are so friendly. I think. I don't understand anything that is spoken. Ever. I am soo lost here, and it is soo stressful. It doesn't help that my tick is back, and I miss home. I have so much to do. I need to stop worrying about home, learn Spanish, and study the gospel. It is the hardest thing that I have ever done. Ever. Everybody tells me it will get better after 3 months.  3 MONTHS!!! I want it now!!! But I am doing my best to endure with optimism. I am always talking optimistic.  I try to fake my happiness until it works its way to my heart. I can do anything that I set my mind to, and I am setting my mind to it. The past couple days especially it has been soo hard. I was nervous to write today, because I didnt know if it would relieve any stress.  But it does... *sigh of relief* I miss you guys a lot.  Elder Guevara is soo helpful.  He worries about me when I am starting to show my stress.  It is so hard staying awake. Especially when everything sounds like gibberish to me.. Haha. soda is cheap here, like the equivalent of 20 cents at home for a 1 liter bottle of coke.  It is cold, and helps me stay awake, so I drink some every now and then. (I dont drink the whole liter i normally get the 250ml bottles which are 20 centimos, or like 6 cents and I drink it slowly, probably once a day.) Lots of corner stores and "mototaxis" which are super wierd 3 wheeled motorcyles with a cab in the back. I dont have any pictures of them, so you should just look them up. We ride in them a lot. They are 1 sol per ride. The bishop here is a driver.  I feel so alone because of my Spanish. But I am always praying. Always. I have faith that this will get better. Less stressful, more fun, and more spiritual.  I love you guys, I love the Church, and I love the Lord. Happy valentines day (2 days ago.) Oh! I almost forgot! Since I have been here, we have 7 baptismal dates set. (Johan, Morales family of 5, and Jenny) I had to ask the commitment. They would answer, and ask a question, then Elder Guevara would answer because I don't know any Spanish it feels.  Anyways, keep me in your prayers. I need them. Love you guys!

Also there are dogs everywhere. Peru always is making a sound. A honk, an engine, spanish somethings, and barking. I dont know what the beach is called, but it is a cove, and there isnt sand, just stones. And it also makes noise. Haha. Dad also talked about how his mission madfe it impossible to sleep without a fan, and let me tell you, I am already the same way...

And one more thing. It is ALL dirt. All dirt. Period. My shoes get soo dusty. Haha.

and this is how you send me letters. My whole mission. If you want to send a package do it. Just cover it with Virgin Mary stickers. Nobody will touch it. :) elder Guevara just told me I look like Thomas S. Monson when he was young. :P See you next week! (That means send pictures.) Have fun at home, suckers.